Injuries taking toll on Cats

CLOVIS - Injuries are something Clovis High's baseball team simply can't afford this season.

Seniors Donovan Usery and Norbert Archibeque missed Friday's District 4-5A twin bill against Hobbs at Bell Park, and senior infielder Quincie Molina was injured during the first game. The team's relative lack of overall varsity experience showed and the Eagles cruised to a 7-0, 22-2 sweep, the second game ending in five innings on the 10-run rule.

Clovis (4-8, 0-4 district) hung around for a long time in Game 1, and even for a while in the second game. But the depleted Wildcats gave up 17 runs over the final two innings.

"That's no excuse," CHS coach Richard Cruce said. "Injuries happen; you just have to overcome them.

"It's next man up, and right now the 'next man up' isn't getting the job done."

Hobbs (11-1, 4-0), which lost its season opener at Centennial 14-4, has since won 11 in a row and allowed a total of just 19 runs in that time.

Senior left-hander Josh Martin pitched relatively well for the Cats in Game 1, but after retiring the first two hitters in the fourth inning of a scoreless game he walked Hobbs' Brevin McCool. Right fielder J.D. Parada then sliced a fly ball down the right field line and freshman Will Jordan's diving attempt came up empty as Parada raced into third with an RBI triple.

Left fielder Caleb Salmon followed with a run-scoring single to center. Then, in the fifth and sixth innings the Cats committed four errors as Hobbs put the game out of reach.

Cruce was concerned about the two-out walk.

"I thought Josh pitched great," Cruce said. "He kept them off-balance with his off-speed stuff, especially early.

"But in today's new pitch-count deal, walking people with two out is just upping your pitch count."

Clovis, which was no-hit twice at Carlsbad on Tuesday, managed only two hits against Eagles right-hander Zak McPeters, who retired the final 10 and 14 of the last 15 hitters en route to a two-hitter. He walked two and struck out 10.

Jordan started the nightcap for the Cats and struggled with command, but he kept the Cats within shouting distance until the fourth. The Eagles chased him in an eight-run inning, then scored nine in the fifth when they played station-to-station baseball.

Hobbs collected 18 hits, led by Salmon with 4-for-5 and six RBIs. He had a pair of two-run triples, then added two RBI singles in the fifth.

Cruce said he hopes to get Usery, the team's regular catcher, back soon, but he's not so sure about Archibeque and Molina.

"That second game just got out of hand," he said. "But tip your hat to Hobbs - they swung the bats great. They work at it and they play the game the right way."

Clovis returns to action on Tuesday in a 5 p.m. district twin bill at Roswell High.

Carlsbad 12-10, Clovis 0-0 (Tuesday) - Cruce knew his team's district-opening games at Carlsbad would be tough, but he didn't anticipate just how tough.

"I didn't expect what happened tonight," he said after the games. "I thought we'd compete a little better and put the ball in play a little better."

The teams waited out a 30-minute lightning delay in the second inning of the opener. Carlsbad led 2-0 at the time and had the bases loaded with no one out, and before the inning finally ended a total of eight runs had scored and it was 9-0.

Jordan was the victim of Carlsbad's onslaught, but Cruce said he wasn't helped much by the Cats' defense.

"If we don't make a mental error and a physical error, I think Will gets out of that inning with two runs," Cruce said.

Senior Jacob Echavarria earned the first-game victory. Sophomore Tristen Thomas and senior Ashton Whitaker were both 2-for-3 and each drove in two runs for the Cavemen.

The second game didn't go any better. This time, Carlsbad tallied eight runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back.

To its credit, Clovis held the Cavemen off the board over the next four innings before Carlsbad scored two in the sixth to end it.

"We just didn't play good defense," Cruce said of his squad, which committed three defensive miscues in each tilt. "We pitched pretty well except for the eight-run innings, and we didn't pitch all that bad in those innings."

In addition to tossing a no-hitter, junior pitcher Nolan Perry drove in four runs with a double and two singles to lead Carlsbad's 14-hit attack.